The top dancers of the New
York "Arts for Living Center" have more to worry about than
a choreographer who seems to have wandered out of FAME and
competition for a starring roll in a Broadway show when
someone starts offing the competition. Everyone's a suspect.
Is it driven choreographer Candice (Olga Karlatos of Fulci's
ZOMBIE), womanizing school director Dick Gibson (the
late Claudio Cassinelli of
ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN), trainer Margie (Geretta
Geretta of Lamberto Bava's DEMONS), or one of the
neurotic students? Or could it be handsome George Webb (Ray
Lovelock,
OASIS OF FEAR) who has been stalking Candice's
dreams threatening her with a hatpin) and has recently also
appeared in-the-flesh to possibly menace Candice. Laconic
Detective Borges (Cosimo Cinieri aka Lawrence Welles of
NEW YORK RIPPER and MANHATTAN BABY) is on the
case. Also stars Christian Borromeo (TENEBRAE), Roberto
Gligorov (STAGE FRIGHT), Giovanni Di Nava (THE
BEYOND), Al Cliver (ZOMBIE),
and Silvia Collatina (HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY).
Although shot in 1984, the film did not make its US
theatrical release until 1990 (reported in an early issue of
Video Watchdog) in mono prints under the misleading title
THE DEMON IS LOOSE. Fulci himself likened his follow-up
to
NEW YORK RIPPER
(scriped by the same co-scenarists) to an "American
television film." The film concludes with an epigraph
quoting John Huston's adaptation of
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, “often crime is only a
left-handed form of human endeavor,” that is actually quite
appropriate given the similar motives of the killers of
MURDER ROCK and
NEW YORK RIPPER
and the environment which created them (that said, even the
lyrics of the cheesy Keith Emerson-composed vocal numbers
actually possess some thematic resonance below the immediate
surface which may be difficult to penetrate given Giuseppe
Pinori's cinematography which effortlessly conjures up the
look of FLASHDANCE - the film's alternate title is
SLASHDANCE). The script does drag in bits and there are
some ridiculous clues but there is also some diverting
plotting that keeps the identity of the killer a mystery
until quite late in the film. While there is a fair amount
of nudity, the result does have the look and feel of an
early eighties TV thriller with better production values and
the usual awkward English dialogue of Italian films. The
gore is dialed down after the slashed throats, sliced
eyeballs, and gutted abdomens of
NEW YORK RIPPER
(not unlike the reduced blood-letting of Fulci's
otherwise-atmospheric
EXORCIST-clone MANHATTAN BABY shot at the
same time as RIPPER). Longtime Fulci collaborator Vincenzo
Tomassi's manic editing is more suited to the dance and
murder set-pieces of this film than to some of the scenes in
Fulci's gothic horror outings. Keith Emerson's disco score
is neither his best film score nor his best Italian horror
film score but strangely entertaining all the same (it's the
NIGHTHAWKS of his Italian work). If you don't go in
expecting a Fulci-style bloodbath, you'll find the film a
nice little late giallo effort.

Shriek Show/Media
Blasters' 2 disc edition of MURDER ROCK affords the main
feature a high-bitrate, progressive, and anamorphic transfer.
The film looked overly soft on VHS (partially intentional, the
lens flare during some backlit scenes - which always looked soft
on tape - was always part of the cinematography as well as the
FLASHDANCE/FAME-inspired look) and the DVD format
is mostly up to handling the film's look (you can make out the
pores in faces even in medium shots as well as the beads of
sweat and mist during the dance scenes). It may be the best
looking Fulci title on SD-DVD. The English Dolby Digital 2.0
stereo track has more presence than the Italian 2.0 track (which
some sources list as being in mono).

Although the case
lists English subtitles, they are for the commentary track and
not the Italian mono track. Disc 1 is rounded out by the German
DVD trailer and four other Shriek Show trailers. Disc 2 features
a documentary on director Fulci, interviews with cinematographer
Pinori and actor Lovelock (who also appears in the Fulci
documentary), and lastly a photo gallery. There exists a German
DVD but the English, Italian, and German audio tracks are listed
as mono and includes among its extras a 14 second deleted scene,
the German trailer reproduced on the US disc, and a "soundtrack
sample" running 2 minutes (the complete soundtrack has been
issued in Italy and Japan more than once on LP and CD; most
recently in an expanded CD release from Cinevox).